Sequel to Washed Away. On her way home, Alexa almost runs over a dead body in the road. Her boyfriend CC may need some help on this case, but will he call on her? Also, who is Dougal and why is he obsessed with Alexa?

Author's
Note: And so the story
of Alexa continues. Please read the prequel, Washed
Away, for a better
understanding of the characters and setting, although I try to
explain things as I go. As always, I'm eternally grateful for
reviews and constructive criticism. Enjoy!

---oooOOOooo---

Chapter
1

Phil
beamed with pride as he looked around the shop. He slipped his arm
about his wife, Lisa, and smiled at her with excitement. She was
equally happy about this milestone and very proud of her man. The two
gazed in wonder at their newly opened motorcycle repair and custom
design shop, Moto; they felt like two kids in a candy store. This was
Phil's dream, his passion, the culmination of all his hard work.

Phil
had hand picked his crew, and even though they looked a little
weather worn sporting their tattoos and scraggily beards and
ponytails, each specialized in a certain area that would be
invaluable to Phil once the demand increased for his products and
services. If the grand opening were any indication, business would be
booming in no time. He couldn't have been more thrilled.

The
people of Neosho seemed to know that Phil's shop would add another
level of appeal to the small Missouri town, and they had begun
pouring into Moto as soon as the doors had opened. Down the street
from Moto was a classic car shop run by a gentleman of great
reputation. In the other direction, there was an auto and motorcycle
parts shop that also specialized in custom paint jobs. The three
shops would not only compliment each other – fulfilling a need that
the other two left wanting, but would also appeal to a very similar
clientele, setting Neosho apart from other small towns in that area.
Yes, the people of Neosho had been anticipating the opening of Moto
for some time now, and were not in the least disappointed.

Phil
and Lisa (good friends of Alexa Graham, a local amateur detective who
solved mysteries and murders as needed by the Neosho Police
Department) had moved to Neosho the previous year with the
expectation of opening this very shop, hoping that demand for their
products and services would be adequate to keep their shop afloat.
They were very pleasantly surprised (actually, slightly panicked)
when, on opening day, the shop had been flooded with product orders
compelling every one of their crew to get busy immediately. This lent
some happy chaos to the ambience of the shop, so that customers were
duly impressed with the display.

Everywhere
that Lisa and Phil looked, smiles abounded, so when Lisa walked into
the back office, or the "hub" as Phil liked to call it, to go
over a few last minute details, she couldn't help but hum a tune by
her favorite band of the 1980s. Although slightly out of tune, she
didn't care, as there was nothing that could bring her mood down –
the day was perfect.

Or
so Lisa thought… Shortly after one o'clock, a black malevolent
cloud billowed into the showroom when the only person without a smile
– Godfrey Davis – shoved his way through the door and began
demanding services that Moto didn't even offer. The angry cloud
that followed Godfrey was very similar to those one would see in
cartoons – the ones that follow a person around and rain on only
them – you know what I mean…
When Godfrey found that the staff was unable to help him with
whatever services he needed, he flew into a rage, ranting and raving,
flailing his arms about, knocking over displays, and interrupting
"real" customers from their business. The staff looked on
helplessly as Godfrey would not be placated, no matter what they did.

After
Phil had endured this tirade for a good while, in desperation he
called CC (Chief Chris, Neosho's Chief of Police and Alexa's
boyfriend) to help him. CC actually owed Phil a great debt of
gratitude since it was Phil that had figured out where a kidnapper
had been holding Alexa last winter. CC quickly had the situation
under control, and escorted Godfrey from the building after securing
an apology and a promise to pay for any damages.

---oooOOOooo---

"Rain,
rain, go away, come again some other day…" Alexa sang to herself
as she walked out to her car from the church building. The end of
April was usually wet in Neosho, Missouri, but Alexa cast aside such
thoughts like, "the farmers need this rain for their crops," or,
"an excess of rain now means no drought during the summer months".
She wished for nice sunny days, or in this case, a clear night so
that she could at least see the stars. It had been raining or
drizzling almost constantly this month, and Alexa was sick of
carrying around her umbrella.

"Hey,
Lex! I'll follow you in a few minutes, I need to help the pastor
haul some stuff to his car," CC yelled as he leaned out the front
door of the church.

Alexa
turned around right as she reached her car, "Ok, honey. I'll see
you at Dan's Diner in a little bit. Do you want a booth in the
back?"

"Yeah,
that sounds fine. I'll ask the pastor and his wife if they want to
meet us there too," CC responded as he heard Alexa start her car.
The engine roared as she pressed the accelerator to bring the car to
life – actually, she just liked to hear the engine roar.

Alexa
blew CC a kiss, which he promptly caught and pressed to his heart. He
smiled at her with adoring devotion and mouthed the words "I love
you". Sappy though this may seem, the two had a sweet and loving
relationship, which often made the church teenagers gag due to the
amount of disgustingly sugary displays of affection. The older ladies
that had once glared at Alexa for her cell phone going off in church
now sighed contentedly to see the tenderness between Alexa and CC. I
guess love softens even the most judgmental heart – even in a
Pentecostal church…

Alexa
let the car idle for a moment, "Ooh yes, that sounds like fun. Ok,
see you there," she waved out the window as she roared off, spun
gravel and left a cloud of smoke behind her. CC knew without even
looking that there were tread marks on the road.

He
shook his head, sighed and muttered, "That girl is gonna kill
someone with that driving some day. Of course, she'd probably mourn
the loss of her car more than whomever she hits," chuckling, he
went back into the fellowship hall of the church to help the pastor.

---oooOOOooo---

Alexa
and CC had just spent a wonderful couple of hours at Dan's Diner
with the pastors of their church. Her daughter, Tara, had school in
the morning, and had caught a ride with some friends from church, so
Alexa allowed herself to enjoy the evening without worrying about
kids, school, or work.

The
patchy fog reflected the lights of her 1965 Mustang as Alexa made her
way at a moderate pace down the road to her house. Usually this road
was pretty well traveled, but tonight, since it was almost midnight,
the traffic was basically non-existent. Because of the fog, though,
Alexa had decided to slow down to about forty-five mph, which was way
below her regular speed of "on the floor". After all, as any
driver with a lead foot will tell you, it's really a sin to drive
slowly if you are in a 1965 Mustang. It really is.

It's
actually mentioned in the Bible in Hezekiah 4:8, "And thou shalt
not falter from driving thy chariot like unto Jehu." (Here
the narrator must pause with a raised eyebrow and a slight smirk to
say that there is no book in the Bible named Hezekiah, but Jehu was a
real King of Israel known for his fast and crazy chariot driving.
Just think how much worse he would have been in a 1965 Mustang…).
This fake Bible verse was
Alexa's mantra, and if she had believed in injecting permanent ink
into her skin, she might have allowed someone to tattoo it on her arm
– actually, no, she was too much of a chicken to sit through that
kind of pain. Sadly, Alexa actually had a fascination with tattoos,
but was the ultimate baby when it came to pain, so tattoos were
completely out of the question for her. Besides, those old ladies at
church would never have stopped sneering in derision at seeing her
with a tattoo, and Alexa didn't want to be the reason someone
missed Heaven (more smirking).

But
when it came to driving like a madwoman, Alexa had no such squeamish
feelings. CC, knowing that Alexa had taught Tara how to drive,
insisted that Tara take a driver's education course, especially
after he had experienced Tara's driving first hand, and had left
the cab of his truck with trembling knees and a desire to kiss solid
ground. But the narrator
digresses… back to the story.

Rounding
the curve, Alexa came upon a relatively clear patch of road, due to a
sudden gust of wind. She was about to speed up when she noticed that
there was a log in the middle of the road. It almost completely
blocked her lane, and she had to swerve quickly to miss it. Since she
knew that CC was following her about half a mile back, she pulled
over to the shoulder of the road, intending to roll the log out of
the way before he could run over it.

Imagine
her surprise when she found that the log wasn't really a log, but a
man who appeared to have been beaten and cast into the road. She
quickly ran back to her car and pulled her cell phone from her purse.
She dialed CC first since he would be driving up soon and she wasn't
sure whether he would see her emergency flashers in time to stop.

CC
answered the phone a few moments before he came upon the site where
Alexa was madly waving her arms (she seemed to do this a lot in
body-finding situations). He didn't even bother to speak on the
phone, but snapped it shut as he pulled off the road and began sizing
up the truly unbelievable sight. He opened his truck door and set one
foot on the pavement as he took in the scene. He couldn't believe
his eyes! He sighed in deep frustration bordering on anger.

"Alexa!
What have you done to that man? You ran him over, didn't you?"
and with a cold dread suddenly surrounding his heart, CC leaned back
into his truck and radioed for backup.

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